


telegram from the avalanche

by dudski



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-29
Updated: 2011-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-06 04:49:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/414862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dudski/pseuds/dudski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For welurklate's prompt at the <a href="http://disco-vendetta.livejournal.com/93561.html">Maneuver Seven ficathon</a> - <i>Artemis/Wally, the team finds out about Artemis' family.</i> This is actually about what happens after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	telegram from the avalanche

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally titled _greetings from the world's largest ball of twine [wish you were here]_ , and imagine my embarrassment when I went through my bookmarks two weeks later and realized I'd blatantly lifted it from Traincat's [Greetings from the Twineball (Wish You Were Here)](http://archiveofourown.org/works/166523), which was itself named from Weird Al lyrics. The new title is from Denver Butson's "getting a hold of you," but credit is still due to Traincat because the original title greatly informed the tone and direction of the story.
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://dudski.livejournal.com/714237.html).

_August 11, 2012 16:45  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_all you can eat meatballs...twine ball day is the best day._

Wally's dad had somehow gotten it into his head that they didn't spend enough time together as a family (and yeah, Wally wasn't home much, but come on, he was a little busy saving the world...or playing video games at Mount Justice, but saving the world sounded better), and apparently the only solution was a two-week road trip to Minnesota. Specifically the world's largest ball of twine, because Wally's dad got a kick out of vacation clichés. Wally'd tried to get out of it by pleading civic duty, but Uncle Barry assured the Wests that the League could spare Kid Flash for a few weeks.

Uncle Barry was a traitor.

The meatballs were pretty good, though, even if the fact that nobody was responding to any of his texts meant he was missing out on a quality mission.

 

_August 18, 2012 10:30  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_where is everyone?_

"Honey, I'm home!" shouted Wally, drowning out the sound of the computer announcing him. Nobody was around to welcome him back, which was odd. The team usually trained in the cave on Saturday mornings, and if there were a mission he would have heard about it. He wandered all over the mountain - nobody in the gym, the kitchen, the bedrooms, nobody on the beach, not a sign of life anywhere other than Wolf and Superboy's robot ball thing.

Wally shrugged and headed back to the kitchen. It was exceptionally well-stocked after his long absence, but he'd get it back down to pre-vacation levels soon enough.

 

_August 18, 2012 16:18  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_okay, found everyone, where are you?_

Wally was rudely awakened from his post-feast nap by Robin, who made his presence known by vaulting over the back of the couch and landing squarely on Wally's chest.

"Come on, KF, where's your situational awareness? You get soft while you were on vacation?"

"Yeah, glad to see you too. Where were you guys? Did you forget to call me for a mission?"

"We were in Gotham doing some recon," said Robin, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

Wally sat up and looked around. The others were just entering the kitchen - Kaldur, Conner, Megan, and...Zatanna? They stopped short when they spotted Wally, and soon everyone was looking just as uncomfortable as Robin, with the exception of Conner, who wore his usual expression of barely contained frustration.

"Wally! You're back! How was Minnesota?" asked Megan after a long silence.

"Fine," said Wally. "Where's Artemis?"

This prompted a rapid-fire series of gestures from the team - Megan looked to Robin, who shook his head and pointed back at her, at which point Conner stepped forward to glare at Robin, who gave an exasperated shrug, and finally it clicked with Wally - "Are you guys linked up without me?"

"Sorry," said Megan. "It's just...well, Robin should tell you."

"Oh, thanks for that, Miss M," said Robin. "Aqualad, you're the leader, this one's on you."

Kaldur gave a resigned sigh, like he'd been expecting it to come to this. "Fine. Wally, Artemis is no longer a member of the team."

"What?" Wally blurted.

"While you were away, we encountered Sportsmaster on a mission, and during the fight, he revealed that Artemis is his daughter. After the mission we returned here, and--"

"What, you kicked her out and replaced her with Zatanna like it was nothing, all because of the family she comes from? And you," he said, turning on the rest of the team, "you let him? Have any of you ever even bothered to research the members of the Justice League before? Everyone's tangled up with a supervillain somehow, and Artemis _hates_ her dad, you all know that. Who cares who her family is? We're her family, or we were until you all took it upon yourselves to shun her for--"

"As I was saying," interrupted Kaldur. "After the mission we returned here, and Artemis left before the Justice League debriefed us. No one has seen her since. Since we were down two members, Zatara allowed Zatanna to fill in until you returned. We spent the day in Gotham trying to track Artemis down."

"Oh," said Wally. "That's...okay. Sorry, I guess. Any luck?"

"No sign of her," said Megan. "Robin hacked into her record at Gotham Academy and got her address, but her mom says she hasn't been home. You know Artemis, though, if she doesn't want to be found..."

"She won't be," finished Wally. "Yeah, I know."

 

_August 20, 2012 20:42  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_seriously, artemis, no one cares_

_August 23, 2012 12:16  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_you could at least let us know you're okay_

_September 1, 2012 9:27  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_heard you're not even showing up to school anymore. uncool._

And that was it. When Artemis wanted to go, she really stayed gone. It was surprising how much smaller the team felt without her, even on the rare occasion that Zatanna was allowed to come along as their sixth. After missions, Aqualad returned to the sea or wherever it was that he went, Robin usually had to go back to Gotham because of his batshit insane (Robin hated when Wally made that joke, but whatever, he of all people should appreciate that some puns were too great to pass up) training regimen, and Wally, who had gotten used to unwinding at Mount Justice after a hard day's crimefighting, was stuck being Megan and Conner's third wheel, which...no thanks.

He started going home earlier, which was boring, but pretty much his only option. His parents were happy, at least.

 

_September 5, 2012 7:52  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_supey found a monkey keychain in his cereal and tore the kitchen apart looking for more threats before meg could explain the concept of prizes. you're missing out._

_September 7, 2012 00:50  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_you're nothing like him._

They fought Sportsmaster again, and if Wally was a little more reckless than usual in battle, well, nobody said anything.

 

_September 10, 2012 13:06  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_wherever you are, it's really not fair that you don't have to sit through english class._

And just like that, she'd been gone for a month. Zatanna was coming on missions and training with the team more and more, and he could tell from the looks Robin and Kaldur kept giving each other that they were thinking of making it permanent. Nobody said anything to Wally about it, but he wasn't about to freak out or anything - there was safety in numbers, she was undeniably a big asset to the team, and it wasn't like if she joined there wouldn't be a place for Artemis when she came back. Besides, when Zatanna trained with them, Robin always blew off the Batman regimen to hang around Mount Justice, and Wally wasn't about to complain about actually having people to hang out with again.

 

_September 13, 2012 15:45  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_an octopus followed aqualad home from a mission. this place is getting ridiculous._

_September 20, 2012 13:22  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_recon on one of the joker's operations tonight. you know how recon always turns out. we could use an archer._

"Sorry," said Wally, "I just wanted to clarify: You're asking us to spend the night in a pie factory?"

" _Wally_ ," hissed Robin. "Keep it together, would you?"

"I'm just being thorough!"

"Yes," said Batman. "You'll be staking out a factory that the Joker recently purchased. Your mission is to determine if the product is being tampered with somehow or if the factory is just a front for a different scheme."

"And by product, you mean pies. A factory full of pies."

"Potentially _poisoned_ pies, Wally, geez!"

"A pie's a pie when you have my metabolism, I'm just saying."

"Under no circumstances should you eat the pies," said Batman.

 

_September 20, 2012 3:07  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_oh my god, artemis, so many pies. so. many. pies._

In Wally's defense, they'd been staring at the factory floor for six hours, and if he hadn't had his phone to distract him, he probably would have descended on the assembly line and just started gorging on pies.

That wasn't going to make it any easier to explain to the others that he'd forgotten to put it on silent and the "message sent" tone had alerted the guards to their presence, but he felt that it was an understandable mistake that could have happened to anyone.

At least that was what he told himself as he leaped from rafter to rafter, dodging the exploding pies that were flying through the air. _Well,_ he said through their mind link, _at least we know the pies aren't poisoned._

 _Right,_ said Robin, _because pies that are actually lethal explosives are so much better._

Wally would have had an excellent comeback for that, but he was a little preoccupied by the goons that were closing in on him. He judged the distance to the nearest clear rafter - he couldn't get much of a running start, but he could probably make the jump, if he was lucky.

If he wasn't lucky, he'd miss and fall directly onto the assembly line, and then the pies would all be topped with Kid Flash bits. There wasn't anywhere else to go, though, so he took a deep breath and leaped.

Luckily, he didn't fall to his explosive death. Unluckily, he'd botched the landing, was hanging one-handed from the rafter, and there was a pie headed straight for his face. Wally shut his eyes and braced himself, not that bracing himself would really do anything when he got hit in the face with an edible land mine, but at least he wouldn't have to stare it down while it came at him, which...it was taking a really long time to do, actually. He tentatively opened one eye, and there was nothing there. It had definitely been on course to hit him, though, so where had it gone?

"KF, you going to hang around up there forever or are you going to get down here and help us clean this trash up?" Robin, terrifying Boy Wonder that he was, had somehow subdued and restrained four of the henchmen, and Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian were taking down the remaining three. Apparently the Joker had split while Wally was busy waiting for death by pie.

Wally joined the others on the floor just in time to finish securing the Joker's men, then looked to Megan. "Hey, did you nudge that pie out of my way? Thanks for that, I really thought I was a goner."

She looked puzzled. "No, that wasn't me, I was busy with these guys."

"Hey," called Robin, who had somehow climbed fifty feet up to the rafters in about three seconds and was twirling something in his hand. "I think this is what saved you. Look familiar?"

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Wally.

"Oh, oh, that's one of the arrows Artemis uses! She was here!" squealed Megan. "I knew she'd come back to us eventually!"

"Sure she was here," said Conner, "but why didn't she stay?"

Conner was right. Other than the arrow, there was no sign of her anywhere.

 

_September 20, 2012 6:22  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_thanks for the save, but now that i know you're actually getting these, would it kill you to respond every once in a while?_

_September 21, 2012 14:13  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_radio silence? really?_

_September 22, 2012 10:57  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_seem to be a lot of low level criminals in gotham turning up with arrow wounds. just saying._

_September 23, 2012 21:32  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_come on, whatever solo vigilante deal you've got going on can't be anywhere near as cool as working with us._

_September 24, 2012 15:43  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_superboy's weird ball thing misses you. it can't speak or anything, but i can tell._

_September 25, 2012 17:12  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_come back, would you? nobody here hates me like you do, except batman, and i'm afraid he might kill me._

_September 26, 2012 9:11  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_if i keep baiting him just so robin will argue with me, one of them will murder me and then you'll be sorry_

_September 30, 2012 1:37  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_seriously, artemis, i just wish you were here._

 

"Listen up," said Wally, striding into Mount Justice, "I was in the middle of an extra-large pizza when you called me, Rob, so it better be a legitimate life-or-death emergency this time, because if this is like last time and I ran all the way from Missouri on an empty stomach because Zatanna said she was "busy" and you're worried that means she's on a date, then I'm going to--" Wally stopped midsentence when Megan ran up and hugged him. He wasn't about to complain, but the accompanying death glare from Superboy wasn't exactly worth it.

"Wally, Wally, look who's back!" she squealed excitedly, before running back across the cave to...Artemis?

"Told you it was important," said Robin, making his usual appearance from nowhere.

It seemed like the logical thing to do was approach her, say hello like a normal human being, ask her where she'd been and if she was staying, but for the first time since he got his powers, Wally couldn't get himself to move. Six whole weeks they hadn't heard from her, could they really trust that she was back for good? What if she wasn't? What if she was just picking up her stuff or something?

"Earth to Wally," said Robin. "Dude, you've got that face Superboy gets when he has to interact with civilians. Just go over there." He paused. "Okay, or just stand there like an idiot, because she's walking over, so either way this is happening."

"Hey," said Artemis.

"Hey," said Wally, who had miraculously rediscovered his ability to speak. "So you're back?"

"Yeah."

"For good?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, you guys still need an archer, right?"

"Of course, always."

"Then I'm back. Besides, I missed Superboy's robot ball thing, so."

"You did, did you? You missed the robot ball thing," he grinned.

"Whatever," she said, her face coloring, "don't read anything into it, it's a stupid ball, I don't even like it, I just didn't like worrying that it was going to get itself _blown up_ without me around to look out for it, okay?"

"Well, for what it's worth, I have it on good authority Superboy's stupid robot ball is very happy to have you back, and that its stupid robot ball feelings would probably be very hurt if you took off again."

"I guess I better stick around, then. For the team's sake, and the stupid robot ball, I guess."

"Sounds good to me," said Wally.

"MY BALL CAN HEAR YOU CALLING HIM STUPID!" shouted Superboy.

 

_September 30, 2012 14:57  
From: Wally West  
To: Artemis Crock_

_hiding from superboy in the library, either keep me company or create a diversion so i can escape_


End file.
